Industrialization and pollution are unequally distributed, and people's level of exposure to pollution is different within countries. Most of the time, the marginalized communities are the ones who suffer the most from the pollution’s impact, and this situation is usually the result of industries and governments’ choices. In the US, this trend has led to a phenomenon known as environmental racism, that is referred to biased policies and practices which result in inequalities in the built environment whereby toxins and other hazardous waste and pollutants concentrate in low-income ethnic minority communities. One of the most famous case of environmental racism is Louisiana’s “cancer alley”, a stretch of the Mississippi river covered with chemical plants, plastic plants, fertilizer manufacturers, electric power plants, and oil refineries. The name 'cancer alley' was coined by activists in the 1980s to stress that the toxins that are being released by the plants have led to an extremely high rate of cancer among local people. The poorest communitiesare strongly and disproportionately affected by pollution, silently suffering this situation for many reasons. First of all, they are afraid of losing their jobs in the local industries. Secondly, the social, cultural and political texture of communities affects their concrete capacity to complain, due to an insufficient access to the information needed to be aware of the pollution’s impact on health. To face this situation, citizens have increasingly played a central role in the scientific debates , calling for stringent actions to overcome the impact of pollution, pushing science to redefine its boundaries. A similar scenario is being recorded , where the socio-economic differences are significantly affected by the capacity to gather knowledge that could serve as evidence of pollution’s harm and to mobilize effectively. There have been greater protests of the middle class against pollution. Conversely, poor and rural areas suffer from pollution, without adequate tools to gain attention. However, there are some exceptions. Data shows that last year there have been many reports about the so called “cancer villages”, areas characterized by a high cancer incidence, according to the publication of a document from the Ministry of Environmental Protection which highlights their existence. In this context, the citizens’ activism has played a key role, in order to stress the severity of pollution. Moreover, the increasing collaboration between rural and urban activists marks a positive turning point, and also a breakthrough for rural environmental justice. To explain this situation, we can refer to the case of just three villagers that have taken the lead in opposing the construction of a local incinerator, described officially as “far from residents”, achieving to halt it. Much of their success is owed to their ability to team up with campaigners in Beijing. This situation is connected to another increasing trend: people with more financial sources is moving away from pollution, is buying bottled water and installing air purifiers. But this situation is not feasible for all Chinese areas, since most people living in rural zones cannot afford to do this. In this frame, it is urgent and fundamental to adopt stronger environmental protection policies in order to avoid the increase of inequalities in the distribution of pollution, addressing the harms caused by industrialization and urbanization, thus creating a cleaner environment. The gLAWcal Team Thursday,10 April 2014 (Source: Chinadialogue)